Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Wronging of Elizabeth Moon

These comments very much address how I feel about the Elizabeth Moon controversy and unfair treatment and villianizing of her by other parties.  And in general, they also address how the Left browbeats anyone who doesn't agree with them in the name of intolerance, showing their own intolerance as they do so.  Both sides are guilty of this, but the Left in particular has gotten way out of hand.  If Moon had said the same things she said about Muslims about Christians, no one would have objected.  Which is just as wrong as saying it about anyone else.  The difference?  Christians are acceptable villians to the Left.


I did not make these comments, and I am lifting them without permission from a Listnet, so I will neither take credit nor offer it but I agree 100%.  I do not 100% agree with Elizabeth Moon, however, she does demonstrate how many Americans stereotype Muslims.  The way to address that is not with vitriol but reasonable discussion to reveal the falseness of the stereotypes and assumptions being made.  Her one point I do agree with is that groups often want special treatment they won't extend to others.


Here are the comments I endorse:


1. Moon's comments make explicitly clear that she is not talking about an
entire group of people.
 

2. It is true that the Convention has the right to do what they did, but
likewise those of us who do not agree with their actions have the right to
criticize them for political correctness (which is exactly what this is).


3. The comments weren't made on the convention's "dime," and there is not
reason to expect that she would make political comments at the convention,
so the "not on my dime" rationale doesn't hold up.

It is unfortunate that in today's America, the left/progressive side of U.S.
politics is the bastion of a new McCarthyism, where you can't say something
that is not-PC, or hold a view that is not an approved viewpoint. It is
particularly unfortunate to me, because I'm very progressive/liberal on
social issues, and when I was younger and first became politically active, I
bought into the idea that the left/progressive side was the side of
tolerance, free-flow of ideas, etc. It is anything but that. Both sides have
their villains in this regard, but the left is far worse than the right,
which strikes me as ironic.  


Lastly, when I read stories they stand on their own merit (or fall on it),
and I really couldn't care less about the person views of the author. So
an author is against homosexuality - that's may be somewhat expected given his
religious views. The fact that I am in favor of gay rights and gay
marriage, etc. doesn't prevent me enjoying one of his stories, if it is a
good story. Same for Elizabeth Moon. But this goes back to the sort of
McCarthyism I was talking about above, where it isn't just enough to
criticize or disagree politically with one's opponents, but where instead
they have to be vilified personally to the point that you can't even
separate the person's political views from a piece of science fiction.

 

Unfortunate.

[Disclaimer: I am not progressive/liberal but I do tend to be progressive/conservative and moderate on social issues. ]

It is indeed unfortunate and un-American when people handle controversies like this today, and I think it's ruining our country.  I pray daily that it will stop.  For what it's worth...




2 comments:

  1. "... and there is not
    reason to expect that she would make political comments at the convention, ..."

    Really? Do you know anything about what WisCon is like? It's a progressive, feminist convention where politics are personal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Though I have not been, several friends have and they told me the convention does have plenty of programming on feminist and LGB topics but has become so much more than that. And, in any case, none of that means she's going to bring up her politics there. You cannot censor people before they make a comment just because you are afraid you won't like what they say. There is no reason to expect after the controversy she's already incurred that she would do anything but dodge the issue. There is a big difference between announcing her as GOH and all the hoopla surrounding that, not to mention the honor, and uninviting her, and not inviting her to begin with. You don't have to agree with her views to respect her contributions to the speculative fiction field. And I don't deny the Con people faced a tough choice, but they gave in to controversy which has been blown out of proportion by intolerant people who love to beat up on anyone who doesn't share their views and whose views can be exaggerated to create controversy they can exploit. And hard choice or not, I don't respect that the Con people's decision basically endorses that intolerance.

    ReplyDelete

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